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EnergySolutions clarifies 'contracts' claim Italian waste » There are agreements, but no binding deal. Washington » EnergySolutions has sent a clarification to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission explaining that it did not have signed contracts to import Italian low-level waste after a congressman questioned the company's claim last week. Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., quizzed EnergySolutions President Val Christensen about why the company argued in a June filing that it would suffer substantial economic harm if a license were not granted to import 20,000 tons of low-level radioactive waste from Italy. Christensen acknowledged that the company did not have any contracts and the filing should have said "memorandum of understanding," which is not a legally binding contract. In a filing with the NRC Friday, the company said that "upon further review" it would be more precise to use the word "memorandum" instead of "contracts." Gordon, along with Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, is sponsoring legislation that would ban the importation of foreign low-level radioactive waste. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, also is a co-sponsor.

EnergySolutions clarifies 'contracts' claim Italian waste » There are agreements, but no binding deal. Washington » EnergySolutions has sent a clarification to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission explaining that it did not have signed contracts to import Italian low-level waste after a congressman questioned the company's claim last week. Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., quizzed EnergySolutions President Val Christensen about why the company argued in a June filing that it would suffer substantial economic harm if a license were not granted to import 20,000 tons of low-level radioactive waste from Italy. Christensen acknowledged that the company did not have any contracts and the filing should have said "memorandum of understanding," which is not a legally binding contract. In a filing with the NRC Friday, the company said that "upon further review" it would be more precise to use the word "memorandum" instead of "contracts." Gordon, along with Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, is sponsoring legislation that would ban the importation of foreign low-level radioactive waste. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, also is a co-sponsor.

The U.S. Department of Commerce has approved a new long-term contract for imports by a U.S. company of Russian low-enriched uranium, Russia's state nuclear company Atomenergoprom said on Friday. On August 19, the department "approved a direct contract for deliveries by Techsnabexport [Atomenergoprom's uranium export arm] of enriched uranium to the U.S. energy company Constellation Energy Nuclear Group," the company said in a statement. The contract is the sixth in a series of deals between U.S. firms and Techsnabexport signed in May-July of this year. The department earlier approved two Techsnabexport contracts with electricity supplier and distributor Exelon Corporation, and is currently considering approval of three other contracts with the fuel industry servicing company Fuelco.

Second contract signed by Uranerz for the sale of uranium to a U.S. utility Uranerz Energy Corporation has announced that it has entered into an agreement for the sale of uranium to one of the United States' largest nuclear operators, with plants located in several states. This is the second contract signed by Uranerz for the sale of uranium to a U.S. utility; the Company announced its first such contract in July 2009. This agreement is a long-term contract with deliveries over a five year period and pricing which contains market referenced prices, with combined spot and long term indicators, to set the final sales price. The agreement's pricing structure contains floor prices to provide Uranerz with downside protection and ceiling prices which protect the buyer from unlimited upside price risk. Uranerz continues to pursue additional uranium off-take sales opportunities to develop a portfolio that reflects a balance between market-related and fixed price contracts thus providing appropriate security to market price fluctuations, production cost fluctuations and pricing diversification.

Washington » EnergySolutions told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that it would suffer "substantial economic harm" if a license is not granted to import 20,000 tons of Italian low-level radioactive waste because the Salt Lake City-based company had contracts it must fill. But EnergySolutions President Val Christensen acknowledged under questioning by a congressional committee Friday that there were no signed contracts with Italy or the waste holders. "Help me here," Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., asked Christensen. "You wrote to the NRC, a federal agency" that you would suffer harm because of existing contracts. "Because contract negotiations were under way," Christensen To see the EnergySolutions brief, filed to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, click on the icon (pdf) responded.

Washington » EnergySolutions told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that it would suffer "substantial economic harm" if a license is not granted to import 20,000 tons of Italian low-level radioactive waste because the Salt Lake City-based company had contracts it must fill. But EnergySolutions President Val Christensen acknowledged under questioning by a congressional committee Friday that there were no signed contracts with Italy or the waste holders. "Help me here," Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., asked Christensen. "You wrote to the NRC, a federal agency" that you would suffer harm because of existing contracts. "Because contract negotiations were under way," Christensen To see the EnergySolutions brief, filed to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, click on the icon (pdf) responded.

"The Dept. of Energy has released its draft Request for Proposals on the big environmental management contract, which is designed to complete the environmental cleanup of the East Tennessee Technology Park and perform other tasks at ORNL and Y-12. DOE is is seeking feedback on the draft, with those responses due by May 24 in order to be included in the final RFP. The contract, as presented, would have estimated cost up to $2.6 billion, with a five-year base period with a four-year option. According to a letter to offerors contained in the draft RFP, the contract would be a cost-plus award fee contract with performance-based incentives. Subcontracting goal would be 60 percent of the total contract cost, with 50 percent of the subcontracting to be done with small businesses."

IRVING, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Fluor Corporation (NYSE:FLR) announced today that the Department of Energy (DOE) confirmed its January 2008 selection of Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, LLC, a Fluor-led team, as the winning bidder for the management and operating (M&O) contract at the Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C. The estimated $4 billion contract is over a five-year period. Additionally, there are five, one-year renewal options bringing the potential total contract value to $8 billion. To date, no specific contract amounts have been booked into Fluor's backlog. Fluor expects to start booking earnings from the M&O contract into backlog in the third quarter of 2008.

Russian specialist nuclear (fuel exporter Techsnab-export - better known by its brand name of Tenex - has, in just over a week, won contracts to directly supply low-enriched uranium to four US nuclear power utilities. The latest contract, signed last week, is with the Exelon Corporation, which is one of the largest electricity producers in the US, with a production capacity of 25 000 MW (of which, 17 000 MW comes from nuclear plants) plus control of another (6 500 MW through long-term contracts. During the last week of May, the Russian company signed a contract with FuelCo, which represents the interests of three US utilities, PG&E, Union Electric and Luminant. All three will use low-enriched uranium supplied by Tenex to fuel their nuclear (reactors. Although the value of the Exelon deal has not been revealed, the FuelCo deal is worth more than $1-billion. All these deals (involve long-term contracts and all will run from 2014 to 2020.

The U.S Department of Energy (DOE) announced today that the Department is prepared to execute the Standard Contract for the Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel and/or High-Level Radioactive Waste (Standard Contract) set forth in 10 C.F.R. 961, together with a new reactor amendment, with those companies desiring to construct new nuclear power reactors. The Department is making the Standard Contract and the new reactor amendment (collectively "disposal contract") available to those companies that have notified the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) of their intent to build new nuclear power reactors.

The Department of Energy and Bechtel Jacobs Co. have reached agreement on a newly restructured contract, valued at $1.48 billion, for Oak Ridge cleanup activities through 2011. The new contract replaces Bechtel Jacobs' previous contract and extends the contract period. It also establishes a fixed fee for the company's future work and includes a settlement on previous fees owed to Bechtel Jacobs, which had been the subject of lengthy negotiations.

The labor union for TVA's nuclear security guards sued the federal utility today for refusing to bargain with the union after switching the guards at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant from a contract employer to TVA's payroll. The United Government Security Officers of America and its Local 22 affiliate filed the lawsuit in federal court in Knoxville after TVA hired virtually all of the contract guards at Browns Ferry but initially refused to bargain with the employees' union about the change. Last week, TVA began phasing out its contract with Pinkerton Government Services and bringing nearly all of the contract guards onto TVA's own payroll at Browns Ferry. Similar transitions are planned over the next month at TVA's Sequoyah and Watts Bar nuclear plants. In its lawsuit, the union claims TVA is not negotiating with the Government Security Officers of America as required of successor employers.

The Department of Energy has again awarded the Hanford Mission Support Contract worth about $3 billion to a team led by Lockheed Martin. "Good things can come to those who wait," Frank Figueroa, president and general manager of the winning team, said Tuesday. The transition from Fluor Hanford to the new team will begin sometime in May and will be completed within 90 days, said DOE. Lockheed Martin formed a limited liability company called Mission Support Alliance that included Lockheed Martin Integrated Technology, Jacobs Engineering Group and Wackenhut Services to bid on the contract. The contract award is for five years with a possible extension to 10 years. The Mission Support Contract covers sitewide services at the Hanford nuclear reservation such as security, fire protection, information technology, utilities, road services, pension administration and portfolio management, which includes integrating activities such as schedules and program performance across Hanford.

"A barrage of domestic news reports have highlighted the Dec. 27 Korea-United Arab Emirates (UAE) contract, pointing out that a Korean consortium is scheduled to design, build and operate nuclear power plants for the Middle East country's energy program for the next 60 years. As the first case of Korea's export of nuclear technology, there is no doubt that the multibillion-dollar contract is a major economic, technological and diplomatic achievement for the country, which built its first commercial nuclear plant in 1978. However, a closer look at foreign media reports, including those from the UAE, indicates that the deal is not as lucrative as projected by the domestic reports. One of the most glaring discrepancies between domestic and foreign reports is the exact size of the contract procured by the Korean consortium - led by the Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) - to provide four APR1400, a Korean-made nuclear power unit that has yet to make a domestic debut. Following a decision that selected Korea over France as the winner of the largest-ever energy deal awarded in the Middle East, the Emirates News Agency reported that "the value of the contract for the construction, commissioning and fuel loads for four units equaled approximately $20 billion, with a high percentage of the contract being offered under a fixed-price arrangement.""

"The Government's £73bn nuclear decommissioning programme is to be accelerated with a radical repackaging of its private sector contracts. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) had planned up to five nuclear plant clean-up contracts, which would be let sequentially and take about two years each to select a preferred bidder. This has now been cut by two, with the later three projects combined into a single £13bn-plus outsourcing contract. The large value of this contract will also ensure greater private sector interest. Originally, the clean-up of its Magnox reactors, relics from the 1960s, were to be split into north and south site contracts. The south included Sizewell A, Suffolk, and Hinkley Point A, Somerset, while the north had Wylfa in Anglesey, North Wales, and Chapelcross, south-west Scotland. "

The U.S. Department of Energy has decided to retain the contractor charged with running the Idaho National Laboratory nuclear and research complex near Arco. INL officials announced Monday that the DOE has determined it will allow Battelle Energy Alliance to complete the duration of its 10-year contract to run the federally owned complex through September 2014. The decision was made pursuant to a special assessment mandated by Battelle's 2004 contract. A clause in the contract required the DOE to review the contractor's performance by Sept. 30 and then decide whether to reduce the term of the contract.

USEC Inc. ( said Thursday it had awarded a $1 billion contract to Fluor Corp. for the construction of USEC's American centrifuge Plant in Piketon, Ohio. The contract will run until 2012. "This contract is expected to create approximately 1,000 new jobs, including 800 jobs at the Ohio site," said USEC Senior Vice President Philip Sewell. The plant will provide nuclear fuel for power plants

The Tennessee Valley Authority announced today that it will end its contract with a private security firm that has provided guards at TVA nuclear plants since 1997. TVA Nuclear Chief Bill Campbell said the federal utility plans to terminate its contract with Pinkerton Government Services and bring back security positions as TVA employees during the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. The change will affect about 500 security workers employed at TVA's Sequoyah, Watts Bar and Browns Ferry nuclear plants, TVA spokesman John Moulton said. Under its current contract, TVA paid Pinkerton $159 million, or $26.5 million a year, for security at the three nuclear plants from October 2002 through October 2008.

EnergySolutions, Inc. (NYSE: ES) announced today it has been awarded waste remediation contracts for the management of transuarnic waste from the U.S. Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The contracts are valued at $16 million and will involve retrieval, packaging, and disposition of transuranic waste. "EnergySolutions has worked closely with Los Alamos on many projects and appreciates the confidence the DOE has in EnergySolutions to manage this waste for final disposition," said Steve Creamer, CEO and Chairman of EnergySolutions. Since 2005 EnergySolutions has been working with LANL to repackage transuranic legacy waste to meet the requirements for disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant located in Carlsbad, New Mexico. Under the newly awarded contracts, EnergySolutions will continue its operations in existing facilities as well as develop and operate two new transuranic debris processing lines through 2010.

Nearly 15,000 drums of depleted uranium oxide will be shipped from South Carolina for disposal in Utah under a contract awarded by the Department of Energy. The 14,800 drums of Savannah River Site waste will be disposed of at EnergySolutions Inc.'s facility about 70 miles west of Salt Lake City. The shipments will take place over 14 months, although it was unclear Wednesday when they would start. The announcement, made by the Energy Department in mid-July, comes as EnergySolutions fights an effort to place a moratorium on the disposal of depleted uranium in Utah.

Nearly 15,000 drums of depleted uranium oxide will be shipped from South Carolina for disposal in Utah under a contract awarded by the Department of Energy. The 14,800 drums of Savannah River Site waste will be disposed of at EnergySolutions Inc.'s facility about 70 miles west of Salt Lake City. The shipments will take place over 14 months, although it was unclear Wednesday when they would start. The announcement, made by the Energy Department in mid-July, comes as EnergySolutions fights an effort to place a moratorium on the disposal of depleted uranium in Utah.

Nearly 15,000 drums of depleted uranium oxide will be shipped from South Carolina for disposal in Utah under a contract awarded by the Department of Energy. The 14,800 drums of Savannah River Site waste will be disposed of at EnergySolutions Inc.'s facility about 70 miles west of Salt Lake City. The shipments will take place over 14 months, although it was unclear Wednesday when they would start. The announcement, made by the Energy Department in mid-July, comes as EnergySolutions fights an effort to place a moratorium on the disposal of depleted uranium in Utah.

The Department of Energy (DOE) last week released a request for proposals (RFP) for a contractor to perform Depleted Uranium Hexafluoride (DUF6) Operations at the two DUF6 conversion facilities at Piketon and Paducah, Kentucky. The procurement will be for a single contractor to be awarded two cost-plus-award-fee contracts. The contract period will be for five years with a total estimated cost for the two contracts of $350-450 million. These facilities will convert DOE's inventory of DUF6, located at the Portsmouth and Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plants, into a stable chemical form that will be acceptable for transportation, reuse or disposal. The contractor will also provide cylinder surveillance and maintenance of the DUF6, low-enrichment uranium hexafluoride (UF6) and natural assay UF6 as well as empty the cylinders that store the DUF6 in a safe and environmentally acceptable manner. The contracts are expected to be awarded in 2010

The United Arab Emirates, which plans to award the Persian Gulf's first nuclear power contracts this year, may start a regional arms race as its neighbors seek similar technology, according to a Chatham House report. "Risks from nuclear proliferation cannot be eliminated entirely" from the U.A.E.'s program, Ian Jackson wrote in "Nuclear Energy and Proliferation Risks: Myths and Realities in the Persian Gulf," published today. "It is possible that the genuine desire of Gulf states to engage in civil peaceful nuclear power could possibly tip the region into a nuclear arms race, especially if state intentions are misunderstood." The U.A.E., the fourth-biggest OPEC producer, is turning to nuclear power because it doesn't produce enough natural gas to meet demand. The government has an atomic-energy agreement with the U.S., a necessary step to awarding construction contracts, and will prohibit the enrichment of uranium on U.A.E. soil. A French group including Areva SA and Electricite de France SA is competing for U.A.E. power-plant contracts against groups led by General Electric Co. and Korea Electric Power Corp.

The United Arab Emirates, which plans to award the Persian Gulf's first nuclear power contracts this year, may start a regional arms race as its neighbors seek similar technology, according to a Chatham House report. "Risks from nuclear proliferation cannot be eliminated entirely" from the U.A.E.'s program, Ian Jackson wrote in "Nuclear Energy and Proliferation Risks: Myths and Realities in the Persian Gulf," published today. "It is possible that the genuine desire of Gulf states to engage in civil peaceful nuclear power could possibly tip the region into a nuclear arms race, especially if state intentions are misunderstood." The U.A.E., the fourth-biggest OPEC producer, is turning to nuclear power because it doesn't produce enough natural gas to meet demand. The government has an atomic-energy agreement with the U.S., a necessary step to awarding construction contracts, and will prohibit the enrichment of uranium on U.A.E. soil. A French group including Areva SA and Electricite de France SA is competing for U.A.E. power-plant contracts against groups led by General Electric Co. and Korea Electric Power Corp.